LL Coaching

[semper_fi_72]

I briefly watched a LL Minor game today while I was walking my dog.
This league does not use umpires for their fall ball.
They have the Defensive Coach call balls and strikes from behind the mound so he can coach his pitcher at the same time.
While I was there, I watched the pitch hit the batter.
The batter dropped his bat and took off towards 1B.
The Defensive Coach yells at him to get his attention and then tells him that if he does not try to get out of the way of the pitch better next time, he may not call it hit by the pitch and give him 1B.
The Offensive Coach did not hear him well and asked what happened.
He told the coach to tell his player to make a better effort to get out of the way of the pitch so it does not hit him or he may not get 1B next time.
The Offensive Coach did not bat an eye and spoke with R1 at 1B.
Funny part is I was right behind the back stop.
The kid did try to move but it nailed him in the middle of his back.
Great coaching.
Oh....No one asked if the kid was alright either.
Bad Coaching

[carolinablue]

That's a switch, I usually hear the coaches telling kids to let the ball hit them. Even in minors.

[Richard_Siegel]

Originally Posted by semper_fi_72

....He told the coach to tell his player to make a better effort to get out of the way of the pitch so it does not hit him or he may not get 1B next time.

Think of how illogical this is..

The kid is warned by an acting-umpire to make a "better" effort to get of the way of the pitch so it does "not" hit him or he may not get 1B next time....

If he were to make a better effort so it doesn't hit him he would then not be entitled to an award of first base next time or ANY time!

Also, many coaches do not understand that the batter is expect to "make an effort" to avoid being hit by the pitch. It does not mean the effort to avoid the pitch has to be successful. Hence the acting-umpire's warning to make a "better" effort is not appropriate. By saying he has to make a "better" effort he is acknowledging that the batter did, in fact, make some kind of effort. That is all the rules requires... some kind of effort.

[Rich_Ives]

Then again maybe at one time he had a player denied first base because of lack of enough effort and, instead of knowing the umpire at that game was wrong, is just passing along what he perceives as a lesson learned.

[willv28]

I hate doing minors after all the things that happened this season. Though I'll likely get fed up with what happens without an umpire out there and do it again.

The worst thing that happened, and a lot here may have heard it. Coaches that would tell their kids to stay in the box if they "weren't hit hard enough".

[semper_fi_72]

After giving it some thought, I think he was trying to take some heat off his pitcher for hitting the batter.

[jtn93]

I asked my UIC about the whole attempt thing, he told me that the young guys don't really need to make an effort, that's for teenage ball. Can anyone expand on this?

[Richard_Siegel]

Originally Posted by jtn93

I asked my UIC about the whole attempt thing, he told me that the young guys don't really need to make an effort, that's for teenage ball. Can anyone expand on this?

Young kids don't always have the reflexes to avoid a pitch. They often freeze up like a deer in the headlights. As long as the kid isn't trying to get hit we will give him the base.

Even with older players where the pitching becomes very fast, they don't always have the opportunity to even move because the pitch is on them so quickly. Again, as long as the kid made no effort to get hit, let him take the base. If you judge he had the time to move and he could have made an effort to move, you can keep him there. JUDGEMENT!

[willv28]

Exactly, I imagine you've seen 12 year olds jump out of the way of a fastball down the middle or in no way was going to him them. They're still developing those reflexes and judgment. Hard to deal with it, so I too give them the base unless they were trying to get hit.

[Richard_Siegel]

Originally Posted by willv28

Exactly, I imagine you've seen 12 year olds jump out of the way of a fastball down the middle or in no way was going to him them. They're still developing those reflexes and judgment. Hard to deal with it, so I too give them the base unless they were trying to get hit.

I once saw a 11 y/o think a pitch was going to hit him and he bent over to avoid it and placed his head in the middle of strike zone. The pitch came right down and hit him in the helmet. No base.

[cajunyankee]

I agree with Richard. Some of the pitchers at this level simply overpower the younger, less-experienced kids.
Some of these batters are seeing fast and/orbreaking pitching for the first time and they simply don't have the ability to recognize the pitches correctly, let alone get out of the way.

[bigbird69]

I fully agree. I had one game where a kid saw a breaking ball that he backed out on since it was right at his chin, only to have it break into the strike zone. He had a horrible looking swing... 3 pitches later, here comes the curve and this time he hung in there, except it did not break this time (I could see the rotation as could the batter.) I took flak from the defensive coach and pitcher about it until I said enough and walked away. Both almost left the game.

I have also seen a kid duck his head into a high pitch... over the plate but high... he did not see first on that pitch. (next pitch hit him in the A$$.)

Also, this is LL... even the smallest twitch is considered an attempt by the rule book. so to say he needed to do more means the coach needs to read the little green book more.

[cajunyankee]

Big Bird,

What were the coaches arguing about?